Threat level raised at all U.S. military bases

The threat level has been raised at Redstone Arsenal and all military installations nationwide.Leada Gore | lgore@al.com

The Pentagon is raising the security protection levels at military bases nationwide, it announced Friday.

Adm. Bill Gortney, commander of U.S. U.S. Northern Command, raised military installations' force protection level to "Bravo" from "Alpha," the lowest level of security, Military Times reported. The move comes following growing concerns about threats from Islamic terrorists cells within the U.S.

"While our (force protection level) change is not tied to a specific, credible threat, recent events have led us to recognize the need to take prudent steps to ensure our (force protection) measures can be increased quickly and unpredictably at the macro level, just as they routinely vary at the micro level on individual installations," Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said.

The measures will include extra security personnel in some places.

Alabama has four major military installations: Redstone Arsenal, Anniston Army Depot, Fort Rucker and Maxwell Air Force Base.

The move comes just hours after FBI Direct James Comey said military and law enforcement could be targets of followers or members of the Islamic States of Iraq and Syria, the ultra-violent group the U.S. has been fighting.